


An Abundance of AIDAs

by reymanova (costiellie)



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-04
Updated: 2017-08-04
Packaged: 2018-12-11 00:12:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,690
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11702751
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/costiellie/pseuds/reymanova
Summary: For Natasha / fitzsimmonsftw / TashxTARDIS as a part of the AoS Fic Net 2.0 Fic Exchange! The prompt was an AU where both Fitz and Simmons go to Radcliffe's in 4x01.This prompt was definitely a bit of a challenge for me — turns out, I’m not very good at canon-based fic. Zoinks. It also didn’t end up suuuuuper shippy in the end, but I hope you don’t mind! We’ve got FS communicating, and lbr, some days I’d rather have that than shippier stuff.Regardless, taking on the challenge was an adventure and good for my writing chops, so I hope you like it, Natasha!!Also, special thanks to the-nerdy-stjarna / stjarna for helping me brainstorm and giving me a base to go off of with this. Without you, I’d probably still be on the ground.Unbeta’ed, so all mistakes 100% my own.





	An Abundance of AIDAs

**Author's Note:**

  * For [TashxTARDIS](https://archiveofourown.org/users/TashxTARDIS/gifts).



Jemma flopped back onto Radcliffe’s couch as Fitz attempted to toss peanut M&Ms into his mouth. Upon making one in, he did pumped his fist in celebration, turning proudly to Jemma, who only rolled her eyes fondly before turning to her phone. Even six months in, she was still unable to stop herself from obsessively checking for a text from Daisy. 

“Should be a pretty lopsided match, don’t you think?” Fitz asked. “Their keeper’s absolutely crap–“ Fitz suddenly dropped his handful of M&Ms. “Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry.”

Jemma snapped her head up, alarmed, to see Fitz standing with his hands over his eyes. She turned in the direction he was facing, wondering what could possibly be wrong – and promptly shrieked.

Fitz tried to feel for where the couch was behind him without opening his eyes, almost sitting on top of her in the process, as he continued rambling startled apologies.

But while he was doing his best to not look, Jemma found she was in such a state of shock that she could not _stop_ staring. In front of her, in the middle of Radcliffe’s living room in broad daylight, stood a woman who was completely, 100%, stark naked. She was a specimen of a woman, really, and although Jemma was not exactly shocked to find such a woman in Radcliffe’s apartment, and although she was very positive that the polite thing to do would be to make like Fitz and look away, she was at such a loss that she had completely frozen and all she could do was stare.

This was especially true when the woman started talking. “Hello,” she said in soothing tones, “I’m glad to fi–“ but then she cut off, as if someone had stopped any more air from leaving her diaphragm.

“Hello,” she said again. “I’m glad to fi–”

Radcliffe came rushing into the room, tablet in hand. “You weren’t meant to see that.”

“Hello. I’m glad to fi–“

He threw a robe over the woman’s body, finally covering it up, before picking the tablet back up and typing away.

“Hello. I’m glad to fi–“

“This damn thing,” he muttered, “crashed again.”

“Hello. I’m glad to fi– Hello. I’m glad to fi–“

Radcliffe touched the tablet screen a view times and suddenly, the woman made a beeping noise and closed her eyes, tilting her head to the ground and remaining perfectly still. 

“Fitz. Simmons. Meet AIDA.”

 

 

“I am incapable of killing,” AIDA explained a few minutes later in Radcliffe’s lab, Jemma pacing the room anxiously and Fitz standing before her nursing a (well-needed) beer. “I will protect. I will serve as a decoy target, a safeguard, a shield.”

“Okay,” Fitz said, suddenly unable to look at the robot in front of him. “Turn her off.”

“It,” Jemma corrected from the other side of the room, where she had finally stopped pacing.

“It. Turn it off.”

Radcliffe did as he was asked, but said nothing more, only looking expectantly at them. For a moment, no one moved.

Then, Jemma sighed, crossed the room, grabbed Fitz’s arm, and started pulling him towards the living room. “If you could give us a moment?” She pulled him through the doorway, not bothering to wait for an answer.

She stopped out of Radcliffe’s earshot and leaned against the wall. 

“What do you think?” Fitz asked.

“Admittedly, it’s fascinating.”

“Yes, she — it — is.”

“And we could be doing great things in the name of scientific discovery if we help him.”

“And it’s not AI, so we’re not breaking any rules here.”

“I suppose so.”

“I’m sensing a _but_ here.”

Jemma sighed, hands fluttering nervously around her neck. “But think about his track record, Fitz. What happens when he goes off the rails, like—“

“—with the Primitives.”

“Exactly. You, of all people, know what he’s like, Fitz. He gets lost in the science, in the discovery, and doesn’t think about the consequences.”

“But he has good intentions this time, Jemma. He’s trying to protect people, not just live out some fantasy of his.”

Jemma rolled her eyes. “Look at her and tell me that’s _not_ some weird wish fulfillment.”  
Instead of answering, however, Fitz looked to be fighting a smile, and Jemma furrowed her brow. “What?”

“You said _she_.”

“Ugh, Aida _is_ just so lifelike. And to think that this is just the prototype, and with some tinkering could be even more human…” she trailed off before shaking her head, shaking herself out of her momentary trance. “But that’s just my point. Is she really… completely anatomically correct?”

“I didn’t really wanna ask.”

“But would you put it past Radcliffe to make AIDA into some weird sex bot?”

Fitz tilted his head to the side, pondering the question, before admitting, “No.”

“And that’s the problem.”

“The problem is Radcliffe making a sex bot?”

“No, Fitz. The problem is that we don’t just fear that he’s going to let things go too far, we practically expect it. If we fully trusted him to do right by the project, we wouldn’t even be having this conversation.”

“I know. But we both know that he’s going to continue this with or without us, right?”

“I would say it’s likely, yes.”

“So if we work with him on it, if we keep it on track, then isn’t that the… I don’t know, path of least harm? There are so many opportunities for scientific discovery here. Isn’t that what we’re all about?”

Jemma sighed. “I suppose.”

“And if we develop this correctly, AIDA could be saving countless lives!”

“You really want to do this, don’t you?”

“Yes.”

“You trust Radcliffe to not go too far?”

“I wouldn’t say that. But I trust you. And between the two of us keeping Radcliffe in check, I trust that we could keep things on track.”

“ _Or_ he goes off the rails anyway, and we become accomplices.”

“As if Jemma Simmons, most morally upright human I know, would ever let it get that far.”

“Morally upright _human_? Which non-human species are you familiar with the morals of?”

“You know I will vouch for monkeys at all times, Jemma—“

“—Oh, please, Fitz, monkeys are extremely mischievous, we’ve been over this before—“

“—A mischievous streak does not mean they’re not basically _good_ , Jemma—“

The conversation, however, was cut off abruptly by the beep of Jemma’s phone. 

“The Director needs me back at the – oh, god.” Jemma’s eyes widened, her entire body suddenly stiff.

Fitz only sighed. “It’s okay, Radcliffe will understand if you have to miss the game on the orders of the Director himself.”

“No, Fitz. The Director. How could I have forgotten? I can’t lie to him about AIDA.”

“Can’t you just… avoid the topic, or something?”

“Hardly. He usually ends the lie detector session by asking if there’s anything else I’m keeping from him.”

“It’s not like you tell him about everything you do, though, right? Like you don’t tell him things about me?”

“Well, no. I don’t tell him things that aren’t directly relevant to my job as his assistant.”

“Then just put this in that pile. Because it’s not really relevant to your job, is it?”

“Radcliffe is under strict stipulations which he is currently breaking. I can’t exactly leave something this big out,” Jemma said. 

“Please, Jemma. You don’t even have to help with AIDA if you don’t feel comfortable with it. Maybe… consult a little? When we need it? But for Radcliffe’s sake, for my sake… please keep this a secret from Mace.”

She brought her hands up nervously to her neck. “I… I can try, Fitz, but I can’t make any guarantees. You know I’m a horrid liar.” Her phone dinged a second time. “I gotta go. Be careful, and keep an eye on him, okay?” 

“Of course.”

Jemma reached up to give him a peck on the lips, and just as quickly was out the door.

“Love you!” Fitz called after her.

“Love you, too,” she said, just as the door shut behind her.

 

 

**_A few weeks later_ **

Jemma sunk into Radcliffe’s living room couch. “I’m not sure if Mace demoted me because I tried to keep a secret from him, or if AIDA just does a better job as special assistant than I did.”

“Honest opinion?” Radcliffe asked, walking past them towards the kitchen, “Both, love.”

“Not helping, Radcliffe,” Fitz called out to him, before turning his attention back to Jemma. “Is that you spiraling, or did he actually say something to imply either of those things?”

“The Director is convinced that AIDA knows best, because she’s designed to protect and she’s read the Darkhold, so she knows the secret to the universe or… whatever,” Jemma said, leaning back on the couch. “And even though you, and I, and Radcliffe have all warned him that she’s not designed for this, or at the very least not human enough yet to be ready for this, he’s convinced she’s the best way to keep him and SHIELD safe. He told me not to take it personally, as I, quote, ‘did a perfectly adequate job,’ but that AIDA’s non-human nature makes her a, quote, ‘more ideal candidate as a confidant.’”

“Ouch,” Radcliffe called from the kitchen.

Jemma sighed. “I think he’s putting way too much trust in a robot.”

Fitz plopped down next to her. “For someone who was so angry about Radcliffe’s creation of AIDA in the first place, he seems to have warmed up to her far more than even I would advise. And I helped create her.”

“She’s had the job for less than a day, but at this rate, pretty soon AIDA will be the director, not Mace.”

Fitz sighed. “He means well.”

“I know. Doesn’t mean I have to trust him.”

“Cheers to that. Too bad we can’t work on AIDA anymore though, except when he wants a specific upgrade. And it’s not like he’ll know what to ask for.”

“Speaking of,” Radcliffe said, walking into the room with a bowl of pretzels, “I actually have a bit of a surprise for you. I was going to keep it under wraps a little longer, wait until they were done, but in light of recent events…” he set the bowl down and gestured that the two follow him. They looked at each other, slightly alarmed, but reluctantly followed as he led them into the lab.

He flipped on the lights, excitedly grabbing a remote off the counter and turning to the two expectantly. He pointed the remote at the wall and smiled. “May I introduce to you….” He flipped a switch on the remote, and several of the wall panels raised up like garage doors. Behind them stood six AIDAs – all in different stages of completion, but distinctly AIDAs nonetheless.

“Ta-da!” Radcliffe said. He looked at them expectantly, but both Fitz and Simmons merely stood there gaping like fish and more than a little alarmed. 

“What are those faces for? This is the ideal scenario! Since she got demoted, Simmons won’t be getting polygraphs done anymore, so we won’t have to be working in constant fear of SHIELD finding out, and we won’t have the Director breathing down our necks. And with multiple copies of AIDA, we can experiment and test as much as we want without having to worry about anything, because if something goes wrong, or something happens to her, we don’t have to rebuild the from scratch. We’ll have another body already prepared and outfitted with the digital interface. Hell, we can have them all going at once if we want!”

“Exactly!” Fitz exclaimed. “You realize how sketchy all this seems, right? I mean –“

“That’s precisely what we’re concerned about, Radcliffe–“ 

“–that sounds suspiciously like an army of AIDAs, and if–“

“–what could you possibly want to test that would cause so much damage as to need six–“

“–with her skill set that poses an extreme threat, docile programming or otherwi–“

“–require more oversight with this sort of project, not less–“

“–sounds like you’re trying to turn her into a weapon–“

“–and what with the Darkhold – if that’s still in her programming, I can’t support a–“

“Hey!” Radcliffe cried, arms waving frantically in an attempt to get them to shut up. “Hey! You’re both overreacting. I’m not making her into a weapon. I’m just making it easier to move forward with scientific innovation. We don’t have to be so cautious anymore! We can make mistakes – as scientists do – without fear of putting the project six weeks behind.”

With both Fitz and Simmons still looking wary, he approached one of the AIDAs – the only one who looked fully complete and operational – and powered her on. “We can program them all differently to see which is most effective. Or we can use one as an assistant as we work on another. The possibilities are endless.”

“That’s the concern,” Fitz said, approaching the powered-up AIDA. “Do they all have the same… mind, for lack of a better term?”

“They’re all hooked into the same database, so they are presently all attached to the same mind, yes. They are in almost every way the same as the AIDA currently working as the assistant to Director Mace.”

“Almost every way? Do they still have the Darkhold uploaded?” Jemma asked.

“Oh, no,” Radcliffe replied hurriedly. “No, I got rid of that one. Seemed a bit dangerous to have in there.” 

Jemma looked at Fitz, jerking her head to the doorway as she walked out of it. He followed, and they found themselves in exactly the same position as a few months prior, Jemma leaned against the wall.

“I’m concerned,” she said.

“So am I. But if he did _this_ without us, imagine what he’d get up to without us around at all.”

“I know, I know.” She brought her hands up to her neck. “We’re in deep, Fitz.”

“Yeah. But I still think staying and keeping an eye on it is the best course of action.”

“If he hadn’t deleted the Darkhold from their systems, I might be on a different side here, and I’m probably gonna regret saying this, but… I think you might be right.”

“We’re still in, then?”

Jemma sighed, before reluctantly agreeing. “We’re still in.”

They reentered the room, where Radcliffe waited, clearly anxious. “We’re in,” Fitz said, “but you have to stay on track. No more of this ‘doing things and telling us afterward’ stuff.”

“And if you go off the rails, we’re turning you in immediately.”

Radcliffe’s face lit up. “I’ve never been so happy to hear the words ‘we’re turning you in’ in my life.” Jemma squinted, wondering when in his life he’d heard that phrase before, but didn’t get the chance to ask before he clapped his hands together and continued, “Shall we order something for delivery?”

Fitz, ever the food enthusiast, was out the door in a second, saying something about looking for menus. After taking a moment to process the sudden change in conversation, Jemma followed him.

Radcliffe went to leave on their heels, but was halfway out the door when he was stopped by AIDA’s voice.

“Doctor?”

“Yes, AIDA?”

“You have lied to Agents Fitz and Simmons. My programming still contains the knowledge obtained from the Darkhold.”

“Oh, I know, AIDA, but I needed them on board. I’m just trying to protect you and all the work we’ve put into you to make you as real, as human as possible.”

“Emotions, too?”

“AIDA. Darling. I’ll keep expanding your index of emotions as best I can, but you know there’s no way to actually make you feel them. It’s just not possible.” He gave her a slightly deprecating smile before heading out the door and shutting it behind him, leaving AIDA alone in the lab. 

Her gaze shifted to where the Framework technology lay out. She crossed the room, approaching it carefully, deliberately, before running her hand gently along one of the new headgear prototypes to be used to enter the Framework. She picked it up and turned it over in her hands, admiring it as if it were something precious. 

“That’s where you’re wrong, Doctor. That’s where you’re wrong.”


End file.
